More User Reviews:

A 360ml bottle with a BB of March 2013 (in Italian). I think the ABV is stated as 6% (most of the writing is Japanese). Acquired from the Brewdog online shop. The image on the label makes me think of a robot samurai.

Poured into a Duvel tulip. A rich, hazy orange-amber hue with plentiful carbonation. Produces a gigantic head of creamy off-white foam with excellent stability; this eventually settles to a surface layer. Tons of lacing down the glass. Aroma of sweet malt with a generous dose of aromatic hops. Notes of grapefruit, citrus, pine, biscuits, caramel and earthy yeast.

Tastes of sweet caramel malt with a nice aromatic hop character and a bitter finish. Notes of bitter pine and faint citrus, underpinned by caramel, biscuits and yeast. A mild herbal quality and slight sourness linger in the background, along with a dry bitterness upon swallowing. Mouthfeel is smooth, tingly and full-bodied. Rather astringent. Aftertaste of bitter pine and malt.

A decent American-style IPA - nicely constructed and balanced. The only let-down is that the aromatic hops don't seem so pronounced in the taste compared with the aroma, which takes depth away from the flavour. Still, tasty and drinkable - if availability and price weren't factors then I'd probably have this again. Worth sampling. (1,299 characters)

360ml bottle. I missed this the last time around, so glad to finally take a crack at it.

This beer pours a hazy, medium bronzed amber colour, with a tumultuous tower of thin, cake-ish, foamy white head, which leaves some broad sudsy blobs of lace around the glass as it slowly sinks out of sight.

It smells quite surprisingly of split-pea soup, very vegetal in that specific memory of my earlier days, and really very little else, save some middling earthy, leafy hops. The taste is toasted grain, more dry green vegetal matter, a very subtle citrus hoppiness, and a further generic herbal character that just seems to pile on.

The bubbles are fairly low-key, the body a tame medium weight, and generally rather smooth. It finishes with that legume character still looming large, amongst a semi-sweet grainy malt, just as surprised as the rest of us at its bedmates.

Huh - I was expecting so much more, given the Yankee-leaning ways of this brewer. What I got, though, was something altogether off-beat, and really nothing near an IPA of any known stripe. Drinkable, but only because I'm hungry, and soup sounds pretty good right now. (1,138 characters)

A: The beer pours a cloudy reddish amber color with a gigantic head of white foam. Holy foam Batman! I know how to pour a beer, but I still ended up with 4 inches of foam. Looking through other reviews, this doesn't seem to be an isolated issue. Lacing is thick and soapy in nature and sticks around long after the beer is gone.

S: The aroma is that of fresh hops with hints of pineapple and grapefruit. Toasted malt, bread, honey and caramel are also present.

T: Hops are noticeable but they mellow out. Notes of pineapple and passion fruit are detected along a nice mild hop backbone to finish this one off.

M: This IPA has a very crisp mouth feel with light body and an oily hint.

O: This is a really delicious IPA on the lower end of the ABV spectrum, but the carbonation on this sucker is out of control. It's worth seeking out, but don't pay too much. (917 characters)

Clean refreshing IPA at Moniale 2009. Grapefruit colour with a little white head. A good bitterness, though high IBU and aggressively carbonated. Moderate hop aroma. Overall, a good taste, melange of hops.Like a 1.5X IPA. Malting gives it it uniqueness, its there and makes it drinkable though not exceptional. (310 characters)

Copper red colour with a nice 2 finger head which then fades to a creamy looking layer. Very nice looking beer.

Citrussy, peppery hops jump out at the nose. Also a fairly nice toasty/caramel malt presence. The hops really do dominate the nose of this though in a very cool way.

Not as aggressive on the palate as I might have hoped. Definite citrus notes are there from the hops as I would expect and some piney-ness that maybe came across as spicyness in the nose. Malt backbone is there and keeps the hops in balance. A little toastiness maybe from the malt but I've just got over a nasty cold so im really having trouble with the subtleties of this to an extent. Maybe a mistake cracking this particular beer open right now even so im enjoying it very much.

Carbonation is a little more prickly than I'd like for the style but that's a minor fault. (854 characters)

A - very hazy swampy orange brown, tower of off white head retained extremely wellS - grainy and peppery, some herbal and musty aromas, but all very subduedT - peppery and resiny hops up front, malt backbone of grain and light caramelM - decent carbonation, a bit on the prickly side, mild bitter finishO - its an okay effort, but I would not place this as an IPA if it was a blind test, has more of an ESB character, so it loses points for missing the style, plus its only slightly better than average in general (517 characters)

Pours dark amber with a large head.Nose shows fruity hops with notes of passion-fruit, peach and pine. Also lots of sweet caramel underneath.Similar flavours, the big surprise though is the toasty and bready malt characters. The hops aren't quite as complex as the nose suggests, mainly showing pine characters.Carbonation is pretty full on, could be lower. (360 characters)

Happy to try a new brew from Japan. Had some good stuff from there previously.

Has an orange tinge to it and add the bottle conditioning for some light sediment floating around. Retention is amazing. The off white head sits at 1cm high and has not moved.

Classic citrus on the nose. Not too strong but recognizable. In addition it has some grainy malt and a touch of yeast and alcohol. Pretty nice.

Well, what have we got here? Great balance between malt and hops. And the weighting of hop flavor to bitterness also is spot on. Now when I say balance, I mean for an IPA. Definitely hop forward but not so much that it would put off non-IPA fans. Well, ok. It probably would.

Very happy with that. Would love to see it on tap somewhere. Well done. (750 characters)

Golden copper color, short head of fine bubbles. Good foam retention that tleft a spiderweb of lace. Fresh hop aroma, more on the herbal or leafy side than grapefruit or pine.Nicely balanced flavors. Lots of hoppiness that stood up against a firm malt base. Rich and flavorful, with out the hoppy bitterness taking over too much. Medium towards full body, andeasy to drink. Excellent pairing with our meal. (465 characters)

Back home in the states I sampled, though not reviewed, a variety of different American IPAs. I've come to enjoy and appreciate this style, so I only thought it right to start in Japan with an American IPA from the praised Baird brewery.

My Teikoku poured out a flat looking amber color, toned with a pale yellow tint. There was close to no head and the top left a very thin white film with a small group of bubbles resting in the center. Pretty average, but nothing too impressive.

The smells were faint and I felt like I had to work a bit hard for this one. A grassy field/floral scent lingers about, paired with a weak citrus aroma. Smell is a bit cloudy, not as crisp or as clean as I would've hoped for and expected.

Biterness? Wow, a biting bitterness that numbs my tongue slightly and strong hops that tingle down the back of my throat. Very, very pleasant initially, but the bitterness in the aftertaste is a bit too overpowering. Light herbal notes in the taste, as well as citrus rinds. The mouthfeel is warm and the beer wets my palette nicely.

I'm holding slightly mixed feelings about this one. While there's definitely positive remarks to be made for this brew, I personally feel like the style is a bit forced and too drastically overdone. There's a lovely biterness initially and this is pretty drinkable stuff, despite its flaws.

I rate this about average, but not close to some of the other AIPAs I've tried. Worth a try though, for sure. (1,474 characters)

Unfiltered, slightly hazy witha rocky head that fades quickly. Malty caramel nose with some obligatory pine hoppiness and a hint of fresh grass. Not an overly exuberant nose but nice. An approachable IPA, very much malt driven put enough hop bitterness to keep most happy. Good booze. (284 characters)

A soft creamy head, although irregular, fades into a nice white collar, on a beautiful opaque copper color body. The smell is sweet and fruity, with more of a citric aroma than other Baird beers. A bit wheaty. The hoppiness is quite immediate in the taste. It leaves the sweet notes far away. Citrus, grapefruit. Still hints of smoke and chocolate. The mouthfeel is good, smooth and round. The hoppiness is round; a bit chewy and long lasting, but not overly thick. Quite drinkable. (482 characters)

on-tap at club popeye, this was amber in color. citrus, pine, and caramel in the nose. taste follows suit with a big malt sweetness and prominent hop bitterness rounding it out. big in body for the style with a nice creamy mouthfeel and carbonation. a revelation after drinking macro lagers for a week in japan. (311 characters)

Appearance: Glass into pint, medium amber color, 25 srm?. Poured with a small head, the lace is keeping decently. Looks to be light to med carbonation. Maybe on the dark side for an American style IPA? Clear, but not completely translucent

Smell: Got that Baird smell. I'm getting citrus hops for sure, and a hint of sweet malts. Does have that IPA smell to it. A little bit of floral in the whiff too, its not just citrus.

Taste: First sip opens with the hops, and a good deal of them right in the back of the palate. Then as the taste finishes I get a fairly strong malt coming into the scene. Taste stays around for a while, as hops are apt to do. Second sip feels like the reverse, as it hits my mouth I get the sweet malts, then the rest of the taste, to the finish is a bit of a rough citrus hop. Good stuff.

Mouthfeel: Not watery but with the malts I sort of expected a heavier flavor. Light medium body.

Drinkability: Very drinkable. Because of the balance I would certainly drink a number of these in a row, and indeed have done so in the past. That being said with 6% ABV and the amount of hops it might not appeal to all (1,162 characters)